一到十
Yī dào shí — One to Ten
📐 Standards alignment
ACTFL World-Readiness: Communication (interpretive, presentational) · Connections (counting and one-to-one correspondence in maths) · Cultures (number symbolism)
Can-Do targets (NCSSFL-ACTFL, Novice Low):
- I can count from one to ten in Chinese.
- I can count a small group of objects, touching each one.
- I can recognise a number when I hear it on its own.
Learning objectives
- Chant 一 to 十 without stopping
- Count up to five real objects, one word per object
- Pick out a single number when it is said out of order
Materials
Ten small countable things — crayons, blocks, grapes, coins. Fingers work if you have nothing to hand.
Prior knowledge
Units 1–3. Your child should already be able to count to ten in English.
Key vocabulary
一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十
Count what you can see
Count something in English first — chairs, windows, people in the room. Getting the counting habit going before the new words arrive means your child only has one new thing to think about instead of two.
Ten numbers
Look at the characters as you go — the first three are just that many lines, which children usually spot on their own. Tap to flip, press 🔊 to hear.
The counting chant
Say the whole run with a clap on every number. Then again with a stomp. Then as quietly as you can, then as loudly as you can.
一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十
One word, one object
Line up five objects. Your child touches each one as they say the number — one touch, one word, no rushing ahead. This is the step that turns a memorised chant into actual counting, and it is worth doing slowly. Then try it with seven objects, then ten.
Memory game — find the pairs
Match each number character to its digit.
Find the matching pairs!
Which number?
Out of order this time — that is much harder than counting in sequence, and much more useful.
1. Press play. Which number?
2. Press play. Which number?
3. Press play. Which number?
Jump to the number
A grown-up calls a number in Chinese and everyone does that many jumps, claps or stomps. Then swap — your child calls the number and the grown-up has to jump. Nine jumps is a lot, which is exactly why children love calling 九.
Show what you know
1. Which character means three?
2. What comes right after 七?
Ten words that never stop being useful
These ten come back in ages, dates, times, prices and phone numbers — and in Grade 1 they become the first characters your child ever writes. Of everything in Kindergarten, this is the set most worth staying on until it is solid.
Take it home
Count something every day
Stairs on the way up. Grapes in the bowl. Trucks out the car window. Socks coming out of the wash. Anything countable, counted in Chinese, once a day. Write what you counted:
How old are you?
Find out how old everyone in your house is, and say each age as a Chinese number. Whose age is 八, the lucky one?
Did you know? Because 八 bā sounds like the word for prosperity, it turns up in phone numbers and wedding dates. And 四 sì sounds close to the word for death, so some buildings skip the fourth floor.
Note for teachers & parents
Chanting is not counting. Plenty of children can rattle off one to ten without being able to count four objects. Step 4 is the one that matters — if it is shaky, repeat step 4 rather than the chant.
Watch for: 四 sì and 十 shí sound alike to English ears and are the classic mix-up. Exaggerate the difference when you model them — sì falls sharply, shí rises.